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1. BSCE - TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

Last Amended and Approved by Administration and traders February 2014

1.1 ONLY ACCOUNT HOLDERS

Only registered account-holders may use the system to advertise and trade and no third party may trade through a registered account holder's account. Shared accounts must name all members responsible for the account.

1.2 ECO-BASED EXCHANGES

An account-holder may not use the facilities of the CES for advertising purely Dollar-based offerings. Trades may be advertised and effected for part Ecos and part Dollars provided that the Dollar component shall not exceed the Eco component, unless the Dollars are for necessary disbursements made by the Seller.

1.3 NORMAL TRADING LAWS APPLY

The normal commercial laws of the land between trading parties shall govern all transactions and each party to a transaction takes responsibility for normal legal liabilities, obligations and risk.

1.4 FIRST ADVERTISE

New account-holders may not make any purchase from the system until and unless they have first advertised whatever goods or services they have to offer. Please note this does not include selling, only advertising offers.

1.5 ENTRIES

Trades are entered into the system by the seller on the basis indicated on the website, which procedure may be changed from time to time.

1.6 LEVIES

1.6.1

Administration shall endeavor to manage BSCE within the same debit limits as the account holders.

1.6.2

Administration shall levy every account holder 30 Ecos a year

1.6.3

Levies to be reviewed annually

1.7 CREDIT/DEBIT LIMITS

1.7.1

All new accounts are created with a balance of zero Ecos.

1.7.2

Account-holders shall be entitled to begin trading without having a positive balance and may so incur a debit balance in their accounts.

1.7.3

There will be no Credil limit however administration will offer assistance with spending Ecos to account holders with or more than 1500Ecos credit.

1.7.4

Account holders may incur a debit balance of up to 1500 Ecos. Administration will provide assistance to account holders who reach the debit limit, with the aim of returning accounts to a balance of zero.

1.7.5

Administration will approve any reasonable request to extend a debit limit, including extra time for traders who are already taking action to return their account to zero.

1.8 EXCEEDING LIMITS

It shall be the duty of each seller in a transaction to ensure that the buyers have not exceeded their limits before agreeing to a transaction. If a buyer's debit limit is exceeded then the transaction may be declined by the administration, in which event:

1.8.1

The seller will have to take recourse against the buyer personally

1.8.2

The parties accept the jurisdiction of the small claims court, alternatively the magistrates' court for the district having jurisdiction

1.8.3

The seller shall be entitled to claim the amount owed in Ecos in Dollars on the basis of one Dollar being equal to one Eco.

1.9 TAXES

Accountability of taxes incurred by members is the obligation of those involved in an exchange. Byron Shire Community Exchange has no obligation or liability to report to the Australian Taxation Office, or to collect taxes on their behalf.

1.10 INTER-EXCHANGE TRADE

The administrator of the CES (online trading system) shall be entitled to set limits to the amount of credit that trading exchanges may incur vis a vis other exchanges as well as lay down terms and conditions governing inter-exchange trading.

1.11 ACCOUNT INFORMATION

Trading balances are available to all account-holders but details of individual purchases are not.

1.12 ADVERTISING

Advertisements for offerings should be honestly described. Advertisements considered offensive to others, inaccurate, illegal or contrary to the ethics of the system may be withdrawn by the administration without consultation.

An offer advertised on the system amounts to an invitation to do business only and shall not constitute an irrevocable offer to all.

1.13 DISPUTE RESOLUTION

1.13.1

If any other dispute should arise between account-holders the matter shall be referred to the administrator for mediation.

1.13.2

If the parties cannot agree then an arbitrator will be appointed by the administration. Any such appointee should preferably be a member of the LETS group, or if not a member, then a person who agrees to act in an honorary capacity.

1.13.3

The arbitrator shall be entitled to make awards for contractual losses or damages but not for delictual or consequential losses. The arbitrator may also make an award as to costs. All awards shall be in Ecos. The administrator shall be required to debit or credit any account within the system to give effect to such order or award.

1.13.4

The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding on all parties.

1.14 NO INTEREST

Account-holders may not charge interest for lending Ecos to other members.

1.15 ONLY ONE ACCOUNT

Unless otherwise authorised by the administrator, account-holders may only operate one account in the system.

1.16 ACCOUNT HOLDERS' NAMES

Unless otherwise authorised by the administrator, all accounts shall be kept in an account-holder's personal name.

1.17 INACTIVE ACCOUNTS

1.17.1

All accounts will remain open and accessible unless:

1.17.1.1

An account holder sends an email request that administration ‘hide’ their account, so they may re-activate it in the future.

1.17.1.2

An account holder sends an email request that administration permanently close their account.

1.17.1.3

The Ecos earned belong to the account holder and should be made available unless they decide to permanently close an account. Likewise, any debits incurred previously will still exist.

1.18 LEAVING AND DE-REGISTERING

If an account-holder wishes to leave the exchange voluntarily, they shall apply to the administrator for deregistration of their account. In such event the same terms and conditions relating to stale accounts as per Clause 1.17 shall apply as if the account was stale.

1.19 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION

1.19.1

Administration may investigate any reported incidents involving an account who:

Breaches any material trading rule or obligation,

Acts in a way considered to be contrary to the Principles and Objectives of Community Exchange Systems

Behaves in an abusive, threatening, disrespectful, inappropriate manner or uses an form of bullying or sexual harassment.

Verification of any of the above activities may result in de-activation of an account.

An account holder may request Mediation between the parties involved in the investigation.

1.20 RESERVE FUNDS

1.20.1

If the administrator is unable to recover sufficient Dollars or Ecos to cover a de-activated account, any shortfall may be cleared by debiting a reserve fund established for this purpose.

1.20.2

A portion of all levies charged by the administration shall be credited to such a reserve fund.

1.21 TRADING OBLIGATIONS

1.21.1

All BSCE Traders (both buyer and seller) need to trade responsibly if making large purchases by arranging payment plans within their means.

1.21.2

All BSCE Traders need use as much time/energy/focus ‘spending’ as they do ‘earning’ and regulate both spending and earning by showing and hiding their Offerings and Wants in order to balance their account back to(ward) zero as fast as possible.

1.21.3

All large trades that will place a Trader over their balance limits needs to be authorised by BSCE Admin prior to the trade to ensure that the buyer can repay the amount within a certain time period plus the seller can spend down their balance in time.

1.21.4

All BSCE Traders agree to avoid accumulating credits as much as they avoid accumulating debits. The target is always to zero your account as quickly as possible. The energy in the BSCE does not belong to the individual Traders. It belongs to the community and to sit on a stagnant debit or a stagnant credit, blocks the flow of energy that could help other Traders in their trading.

1.21.5

There is no 'debt' in BSCE - going into ‘debit’ is NOT (repeat not) going into ‘debt’. All accounts should oscillate constantly either side of zero within your trading balance range. That is correct trading.

1.21.6

Part of the BSCE 'Trading Obligations' includes being aware and involved in the philosophy of LETS and the conscious responsibility of always doing what is best for BSCE, which represents the Byron Shire community.

1.21.7

Each BSCE Trader agrees to leave a 'Recommendation' after each trade in the 'Recommendations' section (see link #6 in the middle/top of your CES home page).

1.21.8

Each Trader agrees to keep their account details up to date and in particular their email address. They also agree to regularly check their email to stay in touch with BSCE updates. Those who do not have computer access or do not understand computers agree to educate themselves which can be done using the BSCE 'Buddy system' that support 'offline' Traders with access and with education about the basics of accessing and maintaining their trading and accounts on the CES to develop independence.

1.22 CHANGES

1.22.1

The administration shall be entitled to review the terms of use at any time and propose changes as necessary

1.22.2

Administration will facilitate a review of any term of use, if requested by at least five account holders, through individual emails. Any account holder may submit relevant proposals as part of such a review.

1.22.3

All account holders may vote for changes to any term of use, either in person, through attendance at a General meeting, by email or through an online voting form.

All traders contribute to toward the dollar costs of basic system administration, trading, communication and promotions, either through direct fundraising or dollar donation.

1.23.3

Reasonable adjustments will be made for traders who experience barriers to participating in standard fundraising options.

1.23.4

Dollar or fundraising contribution amount to be reviewed annually, with the aim becoming unnecessary in the longer term.

1.24 REPLACING THE ADMINISTRATOR

The following processes shall be undertaken, if and when a new Administrator is required:

PROVIDE ONGOING EXPERIENCE: BSCE endeavours to provide ongoing training and work opportunities to range of traders in Administration and/or Support Roles.

ADVERTISE POSITIONS: Notify Traders when a new Administrator is needed and invite Expressions of Interest from all traders. Provide Interested traders with the relevant Selection Criteria and Position Description. Applicants to address the Selection Criteriain writing

REVIEW APPLICATIONS:The current Administrator shall ensure that Applicants can fulfil the Essential Criteria, and, if not, establish if it is possible to provide training in the areas in need of more knowledge or experience.

VOTING: Administration to provide information on Approved Applicants to traders. Applicants may choose whether to share their Applications or provide a 1-page summary. Facilitate information sessions where requested. Administration to forward a link to an online voting function to traders, and to co-ordinate the counting of the votes and informing traders of the outcome.

ORIENTATION: The existing Administrator and/or staff to provide ongoing training and support to the new Administrator for a negotiated period.

2. DISCLAIMERS

2.1

Neither Byron Shire Community Exchange or the administrators are party to any transaction between a buyer and a seller and accept no responsibility for the performance of trading parties nor as to their identity or trustworthiness nor as to the subject matter of any trade.

2.2

Neither Byron Shire Community Exchange or the administrators accept responsibility for any loss or damage occasioned to any account-holder as a result of information received via the system becoming available to other account-holders or outsiders.

2.3

Account-holders agree to indemnify and hold harmless Byron Shire Community Exchange and the administration and any of their employees or agents from any incident of loss, damage or injury arising out of the use of the system.

3.UNDERTAKING AND ACCEPTANCE

I accept the above terms of use and conditions and undertake further to:

3.1

Negotiate a fair trade with other members.

3.2

Keep my personal contact details, my offerings and wants updated.

3.3

Enter transactional information as soon as possible after a transaction takes place. If I do not have the means to do it myself, I will get another trader to do it for me or provide the details to the administration.

3.4

Regularly review my offerings and ensure that they provide sufficient information for others to engage in trade with me.

3.5

Actively promote my offerings if my account balance is a large negative amount and remains there for a period of more than one month.

3.6

To make every effort to keep my balance within the limits prescribed or suggested by the administration from time to time.

3.7

Advise the administration if I should wish to de-register or move from one exchange to another.

3.8

Contribute in cash to clear my account if I should de-register or if my account should become stale, on the basis of one Dollar for every Eco outstanding.

3.9

I nominate my email address as used on the exchange as the address at which I choose to receive communications and notices.

By clicking here I acknowledge that I have read the above terms of use and conditions and are bound by them to the CES and Byron Shire Community Exchange and their administrators as well as to other traders.

I am also subject to prevailing terms and conditions regarding inter-rxchange trading.

I acknowledge further that these terms and conditions may be changed by Byron Shire Community Exchange administration from time to time and I undertake to keep myself abreast of any changes. Participation will be subject to the terms of use prevailing at the time.